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Train fares to be hiked from January 21

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In a rare decision just a month ahead of the Budget, railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Wednesday effected an across-the-board hike in fares of all classes from midnight of January 21 ranging from 2 to 10 paise per kilometre to net an additional Rs 6,600 crore a year, the first such increase in a decade.(Getty Images)

In a rare decision just a month ahead of the Budget, railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Wednesday effected an across-the-board hike in fares of all classes from midnight of January 21 ranging from 2 to 10 paise per kilometre to net an additional Rs 6,600 crore a year, the first such increase in a decade.(Getty Images)

The proposals will rake in an additional Rs 1200 crore between January 21 and March 31 this year, the minister said announcing the decision and did not rule out a hike in the freight tariff. The minister said the fares, which he described as modest and reasonable, will not be increased when the Railways Budget is presented.(Getty Images)

Travel by Second Class Mail and Express trains will be costlier by 4 paise per km, while it will be 6 paise in Sleeper Class. Travellers by AC Chair Car and AC Three Tier will have to shell out 10 paise more per km, First Class by 3 paise, AC Two Tier by 6 paise and AC First Class by 10 paise.(Getty Images)

Breaking away from the populism of his predecessors, including Lalu Prasad and Mamata Banerjee, Bansal, who was made the railway minister in October, told a press conference that the decision to hike the fares was "imperative" as lack of revision in the last 10 years has had a "telling effect" on the railway finances. (Getty Images)